The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and Samaritan Village accepted Community Board 5's invitation for the first outreach meeting regarding the proposed Cooper Avenue homeless shelter with Glendale residents.

The meeting will take place on May 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ the King High School, 68-02 Metropolitan Ave.

While CB5 chair Vincent Arcuri said he is looking forward to hearing the details of the plan from Samaritan Village, he is not too confident the board and residents will be able to convey the community’s concerns regarding the plan.

“Will they listen? My opinion is this is a political game,” Arcuri said. “Why they’re picking on the community to play political games is beyond all comprehension. It’s a good hard-working immigrant community, and why would they want to take advantage of that?”

Samaritan’s $27 million proposal for a 125-family transitional housing facility at 78-16 Cooper Ave. has been under protest and at the center of debate in Glendale for over a year after rumors of the proposed facility first appeared on the Glendale Civic Association Facebook page.

A DHS spokesperson assured that they would, “be attending the meeting in the spirit of transparency and openness,” and explained a meeting with the community would be a way to get feedback on how to better work with the neighborhood.

Arcuri explained that the public hearing format of the meeting will allow residents to voice their concerns, but added that it could go one of two ways.

“You could get some crazies that are ranting and raving, and that would be the wrong thing to do,” Arcuri said. “They should say there are problems through no fault of their (Samaritan Village) own [such as the] wrong location; a highly utilized industrial site next to a chemical plant.”

Kathy Masi, president of the Glendale Civic Association, said she too is unsure if the meeting will shed any light on the situation.

“I can’t imagine what they’re going to tell us,” Masi said. “But I think this is an opportunity to finally get some answers that I don’t think in any way is an indication that this is not going forward.”